I'll speculate. NOTE: THIS IS JUST AN EDUCATED HUNCH BASED ON SPOILERS NOW GIVEN, DO NOT CONSIDER THIS AS A REAL SPOILER.

FIRST TASK: Drive to Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple (of course, teams will be shocked that they thought the race is in US) - It will be much more fun if they are only given a picture for reference. But that would be too sadistic.

SECOND TASK: The Hsi Lai Temple is affiliated with one of _______ (country) largest religious orgs. That country will be your first destination. - I wish there is a get a departure time task in the Hsi Lai Temple.

THIRD TASK: Drive yourselves to LAX and fly to Taiwan!

Your list looks right from the information we have. One thing that bothers me is why they had a big flashy attention attracting bus that says AMAZING RACEin front of the Hsi Lai Temple when the teams drove themselves from the starting location to the temple. They apparently didn't use the bus to move the teams except maybe to the start location. So why attract attention by having it at the site of the first task? It doesn't make sense to me.

I'll speculate. NOTE: THIS IS JUST AN EDUCATED HUNCH BASED ON SPOILERS NOW GIVEN, DO NOT CONSIDER THIS AS A REAL SPOILER.

FIRST TASK: Drive to Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple (of course, teams will be shocked that they thought the race is in US) - It will be much more fun if they are only given a picture for reference. But that would be too sadistic.

SECOND TASK: The Hsi Lai Temple is affiliated with one of _______ (country) largest religious orgs. That country will be your first destination. - I wish there is a get a departure time task in the Hsi Lai Temple.

THIRD TASK: Drive yourselves to LAX and fly to Taiwan!

Your list looks right from the information we have. One thing that bothers me is why they had a big flashy attention attracting bus that says AMAZING RACEin front of the Hsi Lai Temple when the teams drove themselves from the starting location to the temple. They apparently didn't use the bus to move the teams except maybe to the start location. So why attract attention by having it at the site of the first task? It doesn't make sense to me.

Easy way to move a lot of production people?

Could be, but would they take the chance of having a couple of teams arrive ahead of the production people? I'd think they would have one crew at Pt. Mugu while another crew would be at the Temple getting ready. Perhaps keeping costs down made one crew necessary.

I have researched airlines by Terminal at LAX and both China Airlines and EVA leave from the Tom Bradley International Terminal. That doubtless assisted Chateau D'If in not forcing him to switch terminals to see each of the teams.

Any chance they could be heading to somewhere else in Taiwan other than Taipei? They arrive at nighttime, meaning they may do the whole stay-over-night-and-take-a-train. I'm betting on possibly Kaohsiung in south Taiwan:

It's in a middle of a huge modern day makeover and has a huge port that could be used for challenges.

I personally think going west bound is the easiest from the jet lag point of view - as long as you can sleep on an airplane. Especially with this flight that is in the air right now, they get their sleep, they land, and it's morning.

And by the way, GREAT WORK, Chateau!

(and at least I can say that I participated in the "process of elimination" - no pun intended! )

Logged

「超たのしい～！♪」-Tyler McNiven riding a fold-up bike in the night streets of Tokyo, TAR9

So, let's see - Phil, his camera man, and Barry the sound guy are presumably on one of the flights with the teams, correct? When they land, I presume that Phil will shoot the explanations at the locations in a different order than how the clues are written? (I remember reading somewhere in the past that the logistics of these locations are chosen such that Phil and his crew get a time advantage.)

Logged

「超たのしい～！♪」-Tyler McNiven riding a fold-up bike in the night streets of Tokyo, TAR9

So, let's see - Phil, his camera man, and Barry the sound guy are presumably on one of the flights with the teams, correct? When they land, I presume that Phil will shoot the explanations at the locations in a different order than how the clues are written? (I remember reading somewhere in the past that the logistics of these locations are chosen such that Phil and his crew get a time advantage.)

I believe Phil and Barry did get an advantage and were not on any of the 3 flights. To do that Barry and Phil had to get:

Regarding that person whose tweet stated that the tweeter was headed to Vietnam- Do we know if all of the flights are non-stop to Teipei? It could be that if there's a stop along the way, that tweeter changes flights at the connection hub, and our teams continue on their own flights. That would eliminate any confusion. Also IIRC, the last time teams were in Taiwan, the teams then went on to Vietnam as the next country after finishing in Taiwan.

Regarding that person whose tweet stated that the tweeter was headed to Vietnam- Do we know if all of the flights are non-stop to Teipei? It could be that if there's a stop along the way, that tweeter changes flights at the connection hub, and our teams continue on their own flights. That would eliminate any confusion. Also IIRC, the last time teams were in Taiwan, the teams then went on to Vietnam as the next country after finishing in Taiwan.

I'll speculate. NOTE: THIS IS JUST AN EDUCATED HUNCH BASED ON SPOILERS NOW GIVEN, DO NOT CONSIDER THIS AS A REAL SPOILER.

FIRST TASK: Drive to Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple (of course, teams will be shocked that they thought the race is in US) - It will be much more fun if they are only given a picture for reference. But that would be too sadistic.

SECOND TASK: The Hsi Lai Temple is affiliated with one of _______ (country) largest religious orgs. That country will be your first destination. - I wish there is a get a departure time task in the Hsi Lai Temple.

THIRD TASK: Drive yourselves to LAX and fly to Taiwan!

Your list looks right from the information we have. One thing that bothers me is why they had a big flashy attention attracting bus that says AMAZING RACEin front of the Hsi Lai Temple when the teams drove themselves from the starting location to the temple. They apparently didn't use the bus to move the teams except maybe to the start location. So why attract attention by having it at the site of the first task? It doesn't make sense to me.

Easy way to move a lot of production people?

Could be, but would they take the chance of having a couple of teams arrive ahead of the production people? I'd think they would have one crew at Pt. Mugu while another crew would be at the Temple getting ready. Perhaps keeping costs down made one crew necessary.

Regarding that person whose tweet stated that the tweeter was headed to Vietnam- Do we know if all of the flights are non-stop to Teipei? It could be that if there's a stop along the way, that tweeter changes flights at the connection hub, and our teams continue on their own flights. That would eliminate any confusion. Also IIRC, the last time teams were in Taiwan, the teams then went on to Vietnam as the next country after finishing in Taiwan.

I believe teams went actually to Japan.

It was TAR 12, and they went from Japan to Taiwan to the USA. Taiwan was the F4 elimination point (Nate & Jen).

Logged

"I defy you to come up with a better name than Seven!""Alright... how 'bout Mug? Mug Costanza!"

So, let's see - Phil, his camera man, and Barry the sound guy are presumably on one of the flights with the teams, correct? When they land, I presume that Phil will shoot the explanations at the locations in a different order than how the clues are written? (I remember reading somewhere in the past that the logistics of these locations are chosen such that Phil and his crew get a time advantage.)

I believe Phil and Barry did get an advantage and were not on any of the 3 flights. To do that Barry and Phil had to get:

I think you read my mind - it would really be cool to get live sightings of Phil during the race...! Has that ever happened before? I am wondering if Chateau's pictures of Phil doing his sequence was one of the first? Or did coutzy manage that feat in TAR18?

Logged

「超たのしい～！♪」-Tyler McNiven riding a fold-up bike in the night streets of Tokyo, TAR9